Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Location: Throughout the city of Thousand Oaks and neighboring communities
Unit Responsible: Thousand Oaks Police Department Investigations Bureau

Arrestees, Address, Age:
Wines, Jason, Thousand Oaks, 29
Barboza, Juan, Santa Fe, N.M., 30
Garcia, Faustino, Thousand Oaks, 21
Albarran, Alfonso, North Hills, Ca., 35

An investigation of recent vehicle burglary activity in Thousand Oaks led to the arrests of four men, who are believed to be responsible for at least 50 burglaries and thefts from motor vehicles since the beginning of 2009.

A late-night traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Juan Barboza and Jason Wines revealed a significant amount of stolen property inside the Lincoln Navigator they were driving. Juan Barboza had driven to Thousand Oaks to meet with Jason Wines and Faustino Garcia to purchase stolen property from the two men.

Investigators arrested the two men and impounded the vehicle. A search of a nearby residence rented by Faustino Garcia revealed additional stolen property. As the investigation progressed, the focus turned to the San Fernando Valley, where much of the stolen property was being sold to people on the street.

During a surveillance of Alfonso Albarran last week, investigators witnessed him steal property from a vehicle in Simi Valley, before he drove to his residence in North Hills. A search of Albarran’s residence revealed additional stolen property from Thousand Oaks.

All four men were arrested for possession of stolen property, along with a variety of other criminal charges. Alfonso Albarran was also held on an immigration violation, when it was discovered that he had been a previously deported undocumented immigrant.

The types of property stolen by the ring included car stereos, i-Pods, cellular telephones, GPS devices, laptop computers, power tools, wallets, purses, and loose change.

This case once again illustrates the need for people to remove valuable property from their vehicles and lock their car doors. While some of the cases involved the in-dash car stereos being the target, many more involved valuable property left in plain view, which created the opportunities for the thieves.

Investigators are still in the process of contacting victims to identify specific items of stolen property.

Since these four arrests, incidents of reported thefts and burglaries from motor vehicles have declined significantly throughout Thousand Oaks.